The Economic Metaphor of Musical Chairs
by Isabel Curzon, Class of 2026

Musical Chairs, the free-for-all game that can be violently fun for all ages, would be the favorite game of disaster capitalist Milton Friedman. It's last person standing. The rest are out in the cold. And they are sitting on the floor. 

What is the strongest economy? A strong economy has positive figures in unemployment claims, high consumer confidence, low inflation, lots of new home construction, and a stable Gross Domestic Product. These criteria reveal that in order to get to this vibrant and healthy economy, everyone must participate. Musical Chairs is a great metaphor to demonstrate how money and profit work in the United States. 

Revolutionary communist Karl Marx would despise the game. He organize all the children to revolt, shun the game, and start a revolt. Children unite, and chairs for all!  And everyone would have the same chair. The brain behind the concept of the New Deal, John Maynard Keynes, believed that the government is responsible for the well-being of everyone. In this game, he would be sure that whoever was controlling the music (a sadistic parent, no doubt) would supply all with chairs. Nobel Prize-winner John Nash, popularized by the film A Beautiful Mind, would stop the music and remind all every person for themselves does not work in real life. Indeed, if all must do what is best for the self as well as the group, sharing and sacrifice are key. The father of modern economics Adam Smith would not have an interest in Musical Chairs because only one person is left standing. In his mind, "individual ambition serves the common good." He believes that if people are cut-throats, all will reap the bounty. In Musical Chairs, this is not the case.  

It is Milton Friedman, the man who believes the only government-funded services should be cops and military. If you don't have a chair, it stinks to be you. The winner of Musical Chairs, to Friedman, is the rightful king, a god, the man.